One Direction's Niall Horan appears as love interest in JK Rowling's new book Career Of Evil

A character in JK Rowling's new book Career Of Evil has an obsessive crush on One Direction singer Niall HoranReutersAndrew Burton

Niall Horan has appeared in a new book and, surprisingly, it is not One Direction fan-fic. The End Of The Day singer appears in author JK Rowling's new book Career Of Evil, which will be the third in her Cormoran Strike series.

Published under Rowling's male alias of Robert Galbraith, the novel centres on a private investigator looking into the murder of a young girl, Kelsey, who had an obsessive crush on Horan, 22. One excerpt from the account of Kelsey's sister Hazel reads: "One Direction. The band. They're a band that came third on The X Factor. She's obsessed – she was obsessed – and Niall was her favourite.

Completely enamoured by the 1D star, Kelsey used to make up stories that the singer was her boyfriend. The excerpt continues: "So when she says she's met a boy called Niall and he's 18 and he's got a motorbike, I mean, what were we supposed to think. She lied all the time, came home with a plaster on her wrist, said it was a [burn] and turned out to be a One Direction tattoo."

JK Rowling also publishes books under her alias Robert GalbraithREUTERS/Carlo Allegri

Revealing his anticipation for the record's release, Payne told Radio Eska: "It's a nervy time because you put your heart and soul into it, then when it's finally coming out it's just the most exciting thing ever. Obviously we've been listening to these songs now for [three or four months], so it's exciting to get them out because you want everybody else to hear them and see what they think."